There is a place by Me
Category: Peace & Assurance
Speaker: Dumper
Date: June 7, 2024
Good to see everybody out tonight. You may be seated and appreciate you being out on a warm, sunny night like this.
It’s amazing we’re all complaining about this cold weather. You know, my goodness. And who was it, Brother Patterson, Sandy Seen Pictures in Minnesota, where they got snow, you know? So praise all over in Tennessee. You know, that’s a good thing. And I’m glad you in Tennessee tonight also.
And anyone need a blank prayer request card? If you need a blank prayer request card, ushers, get you one. Just raise your hand. Anyone need one? They’ll bring it to you. And uh, we’ve got one there, and they’re getting you covered there. Tell you what, Brother John, you’re in the middle there, we’ll get all the cards to you just a little bit here.
Get your ladies in a word of prayer. And don’t forget Sunday night. Sunday night will be the Shanks—Jim and Terah Shanks’ last service with us, moving to Alabama to working the children’s home. Praise the Lord, they’re going to be working for the Lord. They’ll do a great job as house parents. And so if you can bring some kind of refreshment, just something small, and we’ll have a fellowship for them going away fellowship for them Sunday night for church. They’re making over that.
And don’t forget about it then. Then next week we change our midweek service from Wednesday to Tuesday because of Thanksgiving. And then that service that Tuesday night will be a Thanksgiving service. We want you to praise the Lord that night, and uh, we’ll give you time to give testimony.
Now here’s the thing: won’t you start ahead of time asking the Holy Spirit what He would have you give thanks for and praise the Lord about? And I want you start praying ahead of time, “Lord, what would You want me to say?”
And you know when God’s people get together and just start thinking and praising the Lord, it just makes for a sweet, sweet service. And so I’m looking forward to that. You’d be praying, “Lord, what would You have me say? How can I brag on You?” And you’d be praying about that, looking forward to it.
By the way, good to have Marla and then Stacey back. We’re out of town this weekend. Brother Joel Powers out of town. Good to have him back. Michelle Dumber is out of town. Good to have her back.
And I don’t want to miss any. And good to have some folk back. We’re out of town this week. You missed them. But good to have them back.
And then I want to make a note: January the 9th, that’s a Saturday, that night, though, 4 p.m. at Fairhaven’s Independent Baptist Church, we’ll have our vision banquet. And we’ll get a sign—she’ll have it out by Sunday.
And that’s just such an important time for you to be there at that. We’ll give out the theme for next year. We’ll go out next year’s calendar. We’ll have a good meal for you. We’ll just give you some challenges about the coming year. And so looking forward to that, January 9th. That’ll be here before you know it. And so plan on being there. We’ll get a sign if she can get that going also.
And I’m excited about 2021 and excited about what God all is going to do. And not just putting 2020 behind. Somebody say amen there, though. That would be a good thing. But what God’s going to do the next year.
And let me just say this: we’ll take prayer requests if you have your prayer request cards filled out. If you pass them down to the aisle, our ushers will come by and collect those. Keep praying about this election. And keep praying about that, the media. Of course, it’s not going to say things, but things are going on. Just keep your prayer life going on that. We’ll see what the Lord will do in it. But I believe the Lord’s heard your prayers. And either way that goes, the Lord’s pleased with it. And that’s what it’s all about. And so praise the Lord for that.
By the way, we’re in for a treat in just a moment here. And we have kind of been in a little bit of a parenthesis in the life of Daniel—been talking about between the cherubims that dwelleth between the cherubims and the temple.
And then next midweek service will be a Thanksgiving service. And so tonight I just want to have another parenthesis in there. And Brother Bill Dumpur will be preaching for us here just a minute. And so looking forward to that and excited about it. And that will be a blessing for us. And we’ll get him up here real, real quick.
But keep praying for Brother Ricky Anderson doing something better. Ms. Joni also is sick. She’s not in the hospital. Pray for her also, if you would. And I’d appreciate that. But Brother Ricky is doing some better, some praise the Lord for that. And keep praying for all those sick folk, if you would, please.
Brother John, if you come, read over those [cards] and lead a word of prayer, please.
All right. First one I have is from Michael, Michael Verge. His praise is wish my sister a happy birthday on December 15th. And prayer request for everyone to have a great Thanksgiving.
And next one’s from Chloe. Praise is finding this wonderful church family. Amen. And prayer requests, gallbladder issues, doctor visit tomorrow about getting removed.
The last one we got praise is from the Erns. Praise is God teaches patience in multiple ways. Timothy, for sure. And prayer request: Chris Jenkins, a close college friend and youth pastor, passed away in a freak accident on Lake Michigan. Pray for his wife, Laura, and the whole Jenkins family.
So let’s take these to the Lord in prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we just want to thank You for Your goodness, Lord. Thank You for Your grace and Your mercy and just how good You are to us, even though we don’t deserve it. Heavenly Father, we just want to thank You for allowing us to be here tonight. Thank You for allowing us to be in Your house and the freedom and the ability to come and worship You, Lord. We don’t want to take that for granted. We just want to thank You for it.
Heavenly Father, we just want to continue to pray for all those in our church family, Lord. We have several ailing with health issues, Lord, and just we just want to continue to lift them up to You, Lord, and just ask for You to—for You to just lift them up and place them in Your hands, Lord, and be with each situation, Lord.
I just want to thank You for these praises, dear Lord, and Michael wanting to wish his sister a happy birthday and Chloe with praising this church family, Lord, and that is a praise. His church family is a blessing.
And dear Lord, just want to thank You for patience, Lord. That’s something that can definitely appreciate.
Heavenly Father, we just want to lift up the Jenkins family during this difficult time and just be with each one of them and give them comfort, Lord, during this challenging time. And I want to pray for Chloe and the doctor visit, Lord, tomorrow. I pray that it goes well. And I pray the doctor has wisdom and just that whole situation goes well, Lord.
And just Heavenly Father, just want to thank You again and give You all the honor and glory for everything tonight. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
While the men come by, you can remain seated, but turn to page number 387, Near to the Heart of God. Page number 387, Near to the Heart of God.
It’s a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God. A place where sin cannot molest, near to the heart of God. Oh, Jesus blessed redemption. Great place to be, near to the heart of God. No place like it in all the world.
That’s a great, great song there. Let me just challenge you before Brother Dumpur comes, just to have a desire, a heart that desires God. We have been studying pretty much all year about David, and we’ve seen some of the flaws of David. David had flaws, just like all of us.
But as a man after God’s own heart, he just had that just unquenchable desire, thirst for God. And you pray, God gives you that. The Holy Spirit gives you that. And I hope you just have a desire for God tonight. “Lord, I want You to speak to me. I want You to do work in my heart tonight.”
And, you know, if you’re hungry, He promises He’ll fill you. And so would you just maybe whisper a prayer even now and say, “Lord, I’m hungry. I need something from You tonight.” And He says you’re hungry, He’ll fill you. And just that desire for God—if you’re not careful, you’ll lose that. And pray for it. “Lord, I need that desire back.” And He’ll give it back to you.
But I’m excited about Brother Dumpur coming tonight. Praise the Lord for his faithfulness. And got saved as a young man. God lit that fire and it’s still burning. Still got a desire for God and be used by God and just to be close to Him, near the heart of God. I appreciate that faithfulness over the years. I say those often: someone served the Lord for years and years. I guarantee they got a lot of scars, a lot of wounds. But still in there serving the Lord. Praise the Lord for that.
Let’s give Brother Dumpur a warm, Brotherford County Baptist, welcome, if you would, as he comes to preach this for us.
Is this microphone working? It is.
Take that songbook again, if you would, and turn to 387. It’s good to be here tonight, and it’s good to be anywhere. And thank you, Brother Chisgarh, for a pastor, for letting me have the opportunity to speak. I paid him $10, so…
Look at those words. Sometimes we sing gospel songs and we just pass over so many wonderful truths. Just look at verse one: “There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God. A place where sin cannot molest near to the heart of God.”
Go to verse two up at the top: “There is a place of comfort sweet.” Isn’t He known as the Comforter? Holy Ghost? He dropped down. “A place where we are Savior meet near to the heart of God.”
Look at the third one: “There is a place of full release. Full release. A place where all is joy and peace near to the heart of God.”
With that in mind, go to Exodus chapter 33. Some have said the heart of the matter is the heart. And it’s true. I want to be a help to you tonight. There’s been something going over my heart for months and months and maybe a couple years. And as I have meditated upon it, I find myself failing, failing a lot. I just fall down and get up and dust myself off and go again. Amen?
End of Exodus chapter number 33, verse 17. And the Lord said unto Moses, “I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken, for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.” That’s twice He said that in that chapter. I know you by name. Do you know that?
And he said, Moses speaking in verse 18, and he said, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory.”
And God said, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” That last part of there applies to us. Sometimes we read in scripture, “Oh, just so-and-so, because he’s close to God, that’s why God blessed him.” God wants to bless you.
And he said, in verse 20, “Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live.”
And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. And it shall come to pass when my glory passes by that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall no man see.”
I want to zero in on verse 21, and let’s look at it again. “And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock.” And in that verse, I want to pull out a couple things. I think we’ll be a blessing to you.
After the service tonight, we’ve had shaking hands, songs we didn’t know to sing, and we’ve had offering, praise the Lord, and then me—and then you’re going to have a business meeting. So, as Liz Taylor told her fifth husband, I will not be keeping you too long. Amen.
Let’s go to the Lord in prayer and then I’ll get into the work. Father, we love You and thank You for this evening. And I pray, Holy Spirit, that as the pastor has said, that we are consulting—we’ll let Him speak to our hearts. We’ll let Him do with us as He wants to do. We are so narcissistic in our ways. Think about us, and this is only me and all that. But may the Holy Spirit do a work tonight. And we love You, Lord. And pray now You bless this message. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
What a year, 2020. I thought 2020 was going to be a clear vision, but it turns out to be a blurred vision sometimes. What a year. It’s been a tough year. I put down about five things. Personally, it’s been a tough year. I’ve been under the surgeon’s knife for major surgery.
And some say, you know, “Oh, they’re just getting a hangnail taken out of them.” But those that cut on you, those that are being cut on, it’s a major surgery, amen. We’ve had some difficulties, extreme, extreme difficulties. We’ve had the flu a couple times. I don’t know if it was COVID-19 or 20, I don’t know what it was, but we had it.
This year, tough year, president, the elections. A tough year for people. For people. I pick up veterans and take them to their different places of appointments, and you hear stories sometimes you just hardly believe. Folks are going through what they’re going through. And it seems this year I’ve been more sensitive to people’s tears this year than any year in my life. And I’m not a pastor, but you rub shoulders with people at Kroger’s or Walmart or wherever I might be, and you hear them talk, and they say things sometimes that are ugly about, “Got to wear any dumb mask? You got a mask?”
It goes on and on. The plague that came out of China, it’s been a tough year. It’s been a tough year for me. How about for you? How many do you say with an uplifted hand, “There’s been some things in my life this year, unexpected. It’s been tough”? Anybody like that? Look at the hands. How many know of people that’s going through a tough time? Yeah.
We find in this passage of Scripture that three thoughts I want to bring to your attention, and we’re zeroing in on verse 21 especially. But the first thing I notice is about the life of Moses. And in this setting, he’s very perplexed. He’s very upset. He’s been tried and stressed out to the max. He’s ready to quit, ready to throw in the towel.
You look at his leadership a little bit, and, you know, he’s a basket case floating down the river. And the daughter of Pharaoh brings him in. And here’s the cry of the baby. The next thing, he’s in the King’s Palace, you know, Pharaoh, and he’s raised as a grandson of Pharaoh, and he becomes a leader. And then he’s chased out of Egypt because he kills a man. He has sympathies towards the Hebrew people, and he goes over and meets Jethro—not Homer and Jethro, for you people who might know who they are, but Jethro in the Bible.
And next thing he knows, he’s on the backside of the desert, he’s seeing a burning bush, and he hears a voice. And then this voice says, “I want you to go back into Egypt, the strongest nation all the world. I want you to go back in there. My people are hurting, been there for 400 some years. They’ve been hurting, and I want you to bring them out. Lead them out.”
“Lord, You’re sure You’re talking to the right man?” He went through that. “Yes, I’m talking to the right man. But I can’t speak. There’s an error, and I’ll give you Aaron, your brother.” Boy, that was a poor choice.
And so he goes through the plagues. And every one of those plagues, those ten plagues, every one represented an idol or a god of with the little ‘j’ of Egypt. And next thing you know, they’re headed for the promised land. It could take them 12 days to go through the wilderness to get to the promised land, and it took them 40 years. 40 years leading these people, people that were true Hebrews, and then there was a mixed multitude brought in there.
And in this chapter alone, you just find Moses is just so distraught. God calls him up on the mountain, and why he’s up there—we don’t know what happened to this Moses fellow, so we’re just going to, we need to get another God, another leader—so they build a calf. You know the story.
Look at verse 12 and 13 of this chapter. Verse 12 said, “And Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people, and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name.” That’s the second time He said it. “And thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee.”
Let’s stop there. Remember Saul of Tarsus going up to Damascus to arrest these Christians? They weren’t known Christians then. They were known of the way. And he goes up there, and on a trip, Jesus strikes him off the donkey with bright light. And the Lord says something like, “Why are you persecuting me?”
And Saul says, “Who art Thou, Lord?” And remember the story? The voice said, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” And what’s the next thing He said? “What wilt thou have me to do?” Get this concept: the “Who” ought to come before the “What.” Do you know Jesus? Do you really know Him? That’s what Moses is saying.
And look again at verse 13. He says, “Show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, and consider that this nation is thy people.” And there’s a—in this dialogue here between Moses and God—one time Moses is saying, “I think they’re Your people.” And one time God is saying, “No, they’re your people.” And Moses says, “I don’t want them.” And God says, “I don’t want them.” One time God says, “I’m going to kill them all, and out of you, Moses, I’ll build up a whole new nation.” And that’s when Moses went to prayer. He said, “Why would You kill them, God?”
Then if you look at verse 18 again, and he says, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory.” Moses is simply perplexed. He’s like David, and you’ve got to see this. Hold your place there and go over to Psalm 55.
Some of you tonight, I’ve been there so many times, Psalm 55, and verse 1 through 6. Psalm 55, 1 through 6. David is speaking here. And David is like Moses. David is perplexed. David is distraught. David is at a point of quitting.
“Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not thyself from my supplication. Attend unto me,” David said, “and hear me. I mourn in my complaint and make a noise. I can’t hardly even speak words. I just mumble. I moan. Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked, for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me. My heart is so pained within me.” You ever been there? “My heart is so pained within me, and the pangs of death have fallen upon me. I just want to die. I feel like they want to just get rid of me. Faithfulness and fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.”
Now look at verse six. “And I said, Oh, that I had wings like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest.” David is just saying, as you go back to Exodus, David is saying, “You know, I’m so sick and tired of this situation. I just wish I had like a dove and just could fly away, get away from it.” Have you ever been there? I’ve been there.
David is—or Saul, or excuse me, Moses is so perplexed, so distraught, so hurting, so much full of heartache and pain. He’s full of anger, maybe jealousy. “They haven’t treated me right. You put me in a position that I lead these people, and they’re a stiff-necked people.” Perplexed.
And then in this verse 21, I see a place. I was reading this a couple of years ago. And sometimes I read through the Bible every year and encourage you to, but sometimes we read through the Bible, we just get so caught up in three chapters in the Old Testament and a chapter or two in the New Testament. We just check, check, check, check, check, check, check. And sometimes we just read through it. Stop.
Look at verse 21, and the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me.” Underline that. “There is a place by me.” Moses is so distraught and so disturbed and so discouraged. “There’s a place by me.”
I’m going to do something crazy. Anthony Wright, would you come here, please, sir? Put two of these chairs down there right in the front. Would you? “There’s a place by me.” “There is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God. A place where sin cannot molest near to the heart of God.”
There’s a place. Sometimes you get so distraught and so discouraged. Sometimes you just get downright ugly about situations. Just be honest with you, Pastor. It’s always good for a preacher to be honest. Last week, I was under one of these times, and I got so upset, got angry. I don’t believe in swearing, but if you’d have written a word, then I’d assign my name to it, you know? I just went angry. I just said, “It’s not fair.”
So I came to church right there, and he has the audacity to preach on walking in the Spirit. And I was so much of the flesh when I sat there, I’m ashamed. Moses, “There’s a place by me.” And I left the church that night and went home. And what I was about to do was so much in the flesh beyond description. I’ll never tell you what it is. I was just angry.
And I kept hearing, “Be filled with the Spirit. We fill with the Spirit. Walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” My justice, I want my pound of flesh. And I went in my office, closed the door. I didn’t know I was going to speak tonight. But that verse of scripture came to me: “There is a place by me.” The Spirit of God said, “Bill, there is a place by me. A place by me.”
And I knelt there and started praying, and the Spirit of God just took time to work with me. And Mona came into the room and put her arms around me, and I was weeping, tears running down my face. She said, “Okay, it’s okay. If you can get a hold of that verse…” The title of the verse is six words that will change your life: “There is a place by me.”
And God, He sets up here, and He says to you, “There’s a place by me.” It’s been a while. Remember the years ago you used to say, you know, the old Puritans used to pray through, and the old Baptists got away from that, bless God. We don’t need it anymore because it just takes it a little bit of a ditty of a prayer, and we are okay.
I spent an hour today in prayer. I confess to God that I have been—it’s been a while since I prayed an hour in prayer. And I didn’t look for the time. I’ll give Him an hour. I didn’t do that, time in prayer. And it got sweeter and sweeter. And Bill Dumpur got humbler and humbler. That’s a good English word, I’m sure. And when I got up from my knees, I looked to the watch. I said, “It’s been an hour.” And I thought it was minutes.
And the last point of this message: look at the rest of that verse. Does it say something about putting him on a rock? And this rock is Jesus? And this rock followed them and led them all the way through the wilderness? Does it not say that in the Bible? You know what’s wrong with old Bill Dumpert last Sunday night? I got off the rock. I got my perspective wrong. That’s what we do. Our perspective is all messed up. We begin to think stupid thoughts. We don’t walk in the Spirit. And I’m me.
And God said, “There’s a place by me.” And when you get up here, I’m going to get you back on the rock. And you’ll see it. You’ll see it a little better. Amen.
When’s the last time you heard Him say, “There’s a place by me”? Six words that will change your life. Before you say something, “There’s a place by me.” Before you think that thought, “There’s a place by me.” Before you get angry, “There’s a place by me.” Before you get so discouraged and so depressed and depressed that I want to throw in the towel, “There’s a place by me.”
The key to the Christian life, the key, is getting close to God. “There is a place by me.” We got every kind of gizmo and gadget you can think of, all kind of internet and TV and programs to hear. We’re drained spiritually. And I say, as God said to Moses, as he was so distraught, “Moses, I could hear his voice: ‘There is a place by me.’”
Let’s bow in a word of prayer. Our Father, we love You. Thank You for the truth of just one phrase. Thank You for it. And Father, in this congregation tonight, there may be people going through some difficulties right now. And I hear that call: “There’s a place by me.” There’s a place at the altar, like last week, the place at church when the preacher preached, and the place by me spoke to my heart.
Dear Lord, I love You. And I would pray tonight that people might avail themselves on an old-fashioned altar and get close to God again. And now we love You. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Pastor. Would you please stand? Would you please stand right where you are? Would you please stand? It would be a great night to come by Him as a place, get that place by Him. Would you do that? I’m going to have a word of prayer as soon as I say amen. Our instruments to play, would you just come get by Him? Would you do so?
Father, thank You. Thank You that You tell us all there’s a place by You. Thank You, Father, for that. Thank You, Father, for that. Thank You, Jesus, for being a rock. Bless the people. Help us to come and draw nigh to You tonight, Jesus, and we pray. Amen.
As our instruments come, would you just come? Just draw nigh to Him. “There’s a place. There’s a place by me.” Oh, that’s the best place in all the world. No other place like that. Fullness of joy. Pour your heart out to Him there. Healing there, wisdom there, victory there.
You know, for you to dwell there, it won’t happen by accident. You got to work at it. And the devil will be pushing you out of there continually, and you can have to work at it. Get back to that place. Here’s a good thing: God always has a place for you there. It’ll always be there for you because of Jesus. But you’re going to have to work to stay there, and it’s going to take effort. But it’ll always be there just at the time you need it most. It’ll be there. It’ll always be there.
You got a blessing tonight? Would you say amen? Thank you, brother. What a blessing that was. Thank you so much, and we appreciate it very much. We do have a business meeting. We will not be long. If you’d like to be seated, everyone is welcome to stay. We do have one order of business if we do have order of business. We have our business meetings on the third Wednesday night of the month when we have them, when we need them. And we just—just one thing I want to talk with you about, and I want you to have your say-so in about the building here just a little bit. But we’re going to open with a word of prayer, and then Brother John come read the minutes. Tell you what, can I get some men to pass these out while they’re praying and doing that? We’ll get both of those passed out there. And, um, we’ll pray, and then Brother John come read our minutes for us. Let’s pray. Father, thank You so much for Your goodness to us, Lord. Thank You for even tonight.
Original File: There is a place by Me - Brother Dumper Wednesday 111820